The present invention is in the field of protocol offload devices such as intelligent network interface devices configured to offload protocol processing from host devices.
Intelligent network interface devices configured to offload protocol processing from host devices are known. Full offload protocol processing is mainly associated with connection oriented protocols, where a “connection” state is maintained at the communicating endpoints. For example, a “full offload” network interface device can handle connection setup, data transfer and connection tear down phases of a connection, all with no or minimal involvement by the host. Sometimes, for reasons such as reliability, it is necessary or desirable to “fail over” or otherwise move a connection from one network interface device to a different network interface device.